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Cumbrian woman loses thousands of pounds to cashpoint scammers

A bank customer in Brampton had thousands of pounds wiped from her account after falling victim to a sophisticated cash machine scam.

The Link cash machine at Co-op

Cumbria police today issued a warning about such “skimming attacks,” in which fraudsters fit equipment to a cash machine so they can electronically capture card details.

In the latest incident, the woman used the Co-operative cash machine in Brampton at 8.46am on Monday, unaware that there was anything amiss.

She later discovered that her card details were used several times outside of the county, relieving her account of several thousand pounds.

“Cash machine customers are urged to be extra vigilant,” said a police spokesman.

He advised customers to report suspicious people who may be nearby as they use a machine or items which are attached to the machine.

Police say fraudsters usually watch as the customer as they enter their PIN number and advised bank customers to shield the number key pad when entering your number.

The number of frauds carried out at Cumbrian cashpoints went up last year – but figures are still down on a high of three years ago, police statistics show.

In 2011, there were eight reports of this type of crime at ATMs across the county – up from two offences in 2010 but down from 12 in 2009.

Police have stressed that it was rare in Cumbria and information from the financial sector suggests very few counties report less cashpoint crime.

They said that if a cash machine looks suspicious, don’t use it. Contact Cumbria police on 101 and your bank as soon as possible – there will be a telephone number on the cash machine for you to phone.

They also advised people to use a cash machine which is inside a bank or building society, where possible.

In skimming attacks, the device fitted to the machine to copy card details is often accompanied by a miniature camera above the keypad to capture PIN numbers as they are typed.

Customers who shield the keypad when they enter their PIN less likely to fall victim to this fraud.

Have your say

I am an ATM Fraud analyst and can advise that great lengths are gone to in order to protect our customers from fraud, without doubt protecting our customers integrity is at the forefront of everything we do. Where the onus is on banks to protect the machines where possible (ie where a solution exists), the manufacturers to keep on top of the new frauds and to factory fit solutions, and the police to capture the fraudsters, our customers too have responsibility to protect their own PIN number- without which the cloned card is useless.

Posted by Lydia on
15 March 2012 at 20:59

"It is not up to us to check the machine as it belongs to the bank or the company who run these machines how often do a bank person leaves the bank to check these machines ....... never , it`s their problem not our`s" i would like to say steve i work in a bank and we twice daily check our cash machines on the exterior. Luckily, our cash machine has not been tampered with, however there are some unlucky customers whom we recover their fraud for using other tampered cash machines. So, whilst it is our cash machine and our problem if it did happen-attitudes like your own does not help prevent fraud. Shield your pin and be vigilant and if you note anything out of the ordinary report it.simple.